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Category Archives: Jail Watch

The regular session of the 85th Texas Legislature ended on Memorial Day. Bills not passed by the lawmakers and signed into law by the governor are dead in the water. (Abbott vetoed 50 of them.) For the bills that did not become law: well, maybe next year. Governor Abbott has called for a special session…

How Safe are Criminal Lawyer Conversations with Clients? The Rising Danger to Attorney-Client Privileged Communications There is no justice to be had if there isn’t confidence in our ability to have safe and secure conversations with our lawyers, is there? This is particularly true when it’s a criminal defense attorney communicating with their client, who is…

The suicide of 28-year-old Sandra Bland got lots of people talking about the goings-on in local jails here in Texas. Ms. Bland died last July in the Waller County Jail, and the autopsy concluded that she committed suicide by hanging. Sandra Bland had said some things that should have warned her jailers that she was…

Debtor’s prisons are not supposed to exist in the United States. You’re not supposed to be forced behind bars because you cannot pay a debt — that is the reason for federal bankruptcy laws, to help people in bad financial straits to work things out with their creditors and get a “fresh start.” Creditors can…

The Department of Justice has released a new report which reveals that lots of people are getting raped and sexually assaulted in jails and prisons: assaults on inmates are a real problem in Texas and the United States. Read the report, “Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, 2011–12” here. Crimes Behind Bars:…

No matter what the state of the economy may be, doesn’t look like there are many people out there who are willing to take jobs as guards in Texas jails and prisons these days. No surprise, given what those jobs entail (read more about the heat, and the pay, and more here.) However, things are…

Jails all across Texas are having a real problem of inmates killing themselves. Now, it appears that some of those suicides are forming the basis of wrongful death lawsuits brought by the grieving family members against the jail officials, the county responsible for the facility, and others who may share responsibility for the inmate’s death. …

The disrepute of Texas Jails just got bigger since it’s becoming national news that over in Houston, six employees at the Harris County Jail have been fired from their jobs because of allegations of sexual misconduct and failure to take actions to stop the misconduct on the part of those that should have done so….

Here in Texas, if you are worried about being arrested or if you have been arrested, then boy howdy you better be advancing the best criminal defenses you can muster because you really, really (and we mean REALLY) don’t want to end up behind bars in a Texas jail or prison if there’s any way…

Texas weather is breaking records with the June 2012 heat wave; temperatures are reaching well over 100 degrees in most of the state. The increase in electrical power usage is spiking, too, as air conditioning usage increases: there’s talk of Texas having to implement brown-outs to conserve power if this keeps up. Right now, those…